Culture and religion adds value to the nation. It is the specific culture of a country that improves the social bondage and keeps a society intact. It is the religion that imparts right ethical value and helps the men and women of the nation to lead a right life.
If we analyze the people who are using the internet, we find younger generation, well educated and influential people more in the user’s category. Younger and the educated play a more direct role in the development of the nation. Thus the internet has created both positive and negative impact which reflects in culture and religion.
The Positive impact
Attempts to manipulate the forces which shape the human and natural worlds have been a key element in all China’s religious traditions. This is manifested in a complex mix of religious, superstitious and magical beliefs and practices (Sacu, 2001). Internet as a modern technology offers a wide range of knowledge available to its users which help them come out of superstitious beliefs and create a right religious belief and ethical values for themselves. Thus the religion gets strengthened and gives more spiritual insight which is the need of the true religion.
Chinese culture is considered to be one of the world’s complex and the oldest. The martial art of china, its painting, spirituality, music, literature and art adds value to the richness of the Chinese culture. Internet as a great media has conveyed the importance of this rich Chinese culture to the world that has made many country men come and explore the richness of the Chinese culture. Zen meditation which is now well known all over the world has got developed to a finer form in China. Thus internet has played a great role in reinforcing the positive ness of the nation.
Negative impact of Internet
China is considered to be one of the fast developing nations in Asia. The impact of the globalization has become very visible. Common use of internet is one such outcome of the development. It has some derogatory implications along with the positive influence.
One of the important aspects of the traditional culture of China is to give proper respect to the opposite gender. Internet as an information carrier promotes to shape and to intensify sexual stereotypes or gender consciousness (Jian, 2008). This Results in Sexual abuse and destroying the culture of the Nation.
There are many video sites on internet that promote obscenities, projecting Chinese people as just an object for sensual objects, which has created a bad impact on the general culture of the China to the external world.
In January 2004, Amnesty International documented 54 cases of individuals arrested for “cyber dissent,” but concluded that the 54 cases were probably just “a fraction” of the actual number detained (Amnesty, 2004). Thus the individuals are motivated to do crime which would easily affect the strong culture and the religion of the nation.
The religion and the culture of the country are strengthened if the education and the external influences give importance to the existing religious and cultural significance. Many reports that claim that the internet is used more for entertainment and other purposes other than education. As the internet service providers provide unlimited usage of internet at an affordable cost, the younger generation gets addicted to the internet and kills the time, rather spending it in a useful manner. This makes them less productive for the development of the nation as a whole. This in turn has resulted in the formation of a passive way for the extinction of the uniqueness of the culture and religion of the nation.
Thus the internet has got both positive and negative influence on the culture and religion of China.
References
Amnesty International Report. (2004). People’s Republic of China, Controls Tighten As
Internet Activism Grows, Retrieved February 8, 2009, from ;http://www.
web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA170012004;
Jian, Z. (2008). Women’s Lives from a Gender Perspective Impact of Internet on Chinese.
China Women’s University. Derived February 8, 2009, from
<www.scj.go.jp/en/sca/pdf/8th/g5.pdf >
SACU. (2001). Religion in China. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from
<http://www.sacu.org/religion.html>
